Bus company Arriva cannot afford to operate services at a loss and some of its services would be lost if subsidies are cut.

Arriva's managing director for Kent and Surrey, Oliver Monahan, says the bus giant is a commercial business which needs to make a profit and is already operating some school bus services on a shoe string budget.

Mr Monahan said he was "shocked" by Kent County's Council plans to consider cutting subsidies to 78 services throughout the county, and said he had been unaware of the proposals until this week.

Arriva, which currently operates 132 routes across Kent, is the county's biggest bus operator along with Stagecoach but bosses there said running non commercial services would mean cutting back on routes elsewhere.

Arriva says it already runs some school bus services on a shoe string

'We need to make money'

"We employ 1,000 staff and pay 1,000 mortgages every month," he said.

"Services need to be sustainable.

"If we support services that are not we will be cutting other services to support them."

Arriva boss Oliver Monahan says the company cannot afford to run loss making services without a subsidy

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Mr Monahan said the company would work with transport chiefs at Kent County Council to try to come up with a solution - if they push through cuts - but he added: "It is worth noting when we have taken on non subsidised routes in the past in order to help - they have not been commercial and they did not survive.

"It is always for us about sustainability.

"We have to consider the costs - I have to. Any business has got to make a plan to make money."

But Austin Blackburn, the managing director of Sevenoaks based bus company, Go Coach said it would be about "consolidating services," cutting some under used Sunday services and running other little used routes over a shorter distance.

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"It is concerning but we are viewing it as an opportunity rather than a disaster," he said.